Daughter of the Darkness

By Doug Pountain

Martha, is a unique girl. She is a child whose destiny will lead her along a very different path to all others. Her family know the truth of mankind from the very beginning, a truth that's been manipulated by the corrupt organisation of the Church, to keep man under it's control and the coffers full, but is there a much darker side to their desires, a secret?

Over a period of time, and with her Grandmothers guidence, Martha discovers, not only the true identity of her Father, but also the extent of her power and capabilities.

Many will die along the way in her quest to reveal the truth, but the world must know before all is lost. Remember, death is not the end, it's just the beginning. God help those who stand in her way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Doug Pountain
• Release date: Feb 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224817191

Doug Pountain

Hello, its great to meet you. I live in a small village in Leicestershire, England, and now i am retired, i have the time to do what i most enjoy, writing. Reviews are the life blood of authors, and if you have enjoyed reading this book, i would appreciate your review. I can be found at https://facebook.com/dougpountain or email [e-mail] I wish you all happy reading as i make myself a cup of tea and begin writing. Take care, Doug Pountain.

Book preview

Chapter 1

During the course of most days, everyone will at some time have a moment when they are alone, be it at work or during a moment of pleasure. But have you ever used that time, that moment of reflection to think long and hard about something that is common to us all regardless of your circumstance or status? By that, I mean your future death? You may not have given it a great deal of thought, but I can guarantee that the way you choose to live your life whilst on this earth, will have a great influence on your dying, or even the way your life is taken from you. Remember, you only have a presence on this earth for a very short period of time, and as we all know, life is fleeting, but death is eternal.

Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Martha. Yes, I know it’s a very old fashioned name, but my family history lies very much in the past, the present and the future, and so in many ways it is the perfect name for me. Before we go any further with my story, please allow me ask you another question. Have you at any time considered exactly who you really are, or even what you are, or where you actually came from. As a small child you only know what you are told by others, parents, friends, and you have no reason to question or doubt the information that is given to you.

I am going to take you on a journey, a voyage of discovery that I made through my own life, and try to share with you a story that may at times shock and even disturb you, but what I am about to reveal later in my story may even have the ability to save not just your life, but given the right circumstances and the direction you choose through life, it may also help to save your very soul from an eternity of pain, suffering and damnation in a very dark world that you cannot possibly imagine. Let me begin by telling you some of my early life and how I learned who I and my family really are, and what we are also capable of.

I lived with my Mother and Grandmother, in a small cottage high in the Derbyshire Peak District, a few miles away from the market town of Ashbourne. The three of us share many things in our lives that have made us a very close and loving family. Ashbourne is only a very small town, with most of the shops and houses being built from local stone taken from one of the many quarries situated in the hills around us, it gives the place that typical Derbyshire feel a place of warmth and safety. Ashbourne has only one main road that passes directly through it, but to its detriment it can get quite busy at times, having said that it’s still a very pleasant town with a few very distinctive shops which gives the place an air of security and belonging, as though it is supposed to be here. It’s situated roughly midway between the city of Derby and the spa town of Buxton, and it would appear that everyone here in the town and the surrounding area know one another or are related in some way.

Nothing exciting ever happens here in this part of the world, and the town has changed very little over many centuries with the pace of life being very closely linked to the seasons of the year. The summer months are very different due to the large number of visitors who flock to the area, people who are always happy to spend their money, they love the place, how could they do any other?

Once every year all of that changes, the normally calm atmosphere disappears when we have the Ashbourne Ball Game. It’s very difficult to describe in words exactly what the game is all about, it’s just something that you have to see to believe, but even then I doubt if you would understand it, truthfully I don’t think anyone really does. It’s played between two teams that consist of any number of players, sometimes hundreds, one team is from the upper town and the other is from the lower town.

The game is played with an enormous ball through the streets with a goal at each end of the town, most of the shops board up their windows in advance as the game can get very rough, and most years there are broken legs and arms, but if you have never seen it, then all I can say is you have missed a great experience, something that should be witnessed by everyone at least once in their life.

There doesn’t appear to be any formal rules, and that’s what makes it so exciting, but you need to be very brave or very stupid, whichever way you look at it to take part, but playing, regardless of which team you play for will make you a hero with all the locals, but it really does have to be seen to be believed.

There used to be a rail line that ran between Ashbourne and Buxton, but that has long since disappeared, and it’s now a favoured walking route that’s used by many hikers and cyclists. The route, known as the Tissington Trail has now been partly reclaimed by Mother Nature, with large trees and bushes overhanging the track that gives it a real sense of calm. The trees move in the wind, casting a beautiful light and shadows effect that continually change throughout the day and the seasons of the year, it really is a magical walk. But what the trail does have is an old railway tunnel that was retained and incorporated into the route just out of Ashbourne, and who ever planned the route used great imagination and fitted it with the sounds of trains, so that whenever you are passing through the tunnel you can hear the noise of engines coming at you from all directions, It never fails, you always turn to look for the train no matter how many times you pass through the tunnel, it can be a little scary, but it is also very good fun.

At our cottage in the hills we have ducks, chickens and rabbits and a cat by the name of Bits. I call her that because she looks as though she has been put together from several different cats, she has odd eyes, her legs are different colours, and she always looks scruffy, but I love her very much. One thing we don’t have at our cottage are neighbours, none at all, I love it up here, you can let your imagination run riot and be whoever you want to be and wherever you want to be, it’s truly wonderful, I suppose in many ways, slightly magical.

At night the whole area is completely black as there are no lights anywhere, and during the summer months you can lie in our garden and look up to see millions of stars in the dark night sky. The moon looks so big and so close that you feel as though you can very nearly reach out and touch it. The winters are a very different story, up here, and especially when it snows, you can go to bed and there will be just a little sprinkle on the ground, a hint of white, but when you get up it’s a completely different story, it could be feet thick. But I have always thought that snow has a beauty and magic all of its own, and people who live in towns and cities miss or don’t fully appreciate its magic, here it’s a very different world, but I have always considered these events, these beautiful changing seasons to be part of life’s rich pattern, something to accept and look forward to.

For me, I always considered it to be perfect, as though God had ordained it, but as a small child I did sometimes miss the company of other children my own age living close by, but there is a big difference between city children who have access to lots of modern things to entertain themselves, whereas up here we have to use our imagination and inventiveness a great deal more even with the simplest things, but for me that was never a problem.

Everywhere you look around is completely different every day as the clouds move across the varying colours of the sky and create shadows as the patterns of light moves through the trees and over the hills, and we have the most enormous rainbows that always appear to finish in our garden, but even though I have searched many times, I have never yet managed to find the elusive pot of Gold, but that doesn’t stop me from looking.

There’s a small village called Doveton that is fairly close to where I live, but when you are a young child it could be a million miles away. I do have a few friends there including my best friend Lucy. She lives in a very large house with lots of rooms and an enormous garden with a brilliant tree house, she is always so much fun, and when we get together we are always laughing. Lucy’s Mum and Dad are very nice people, we play some great games together. Lucy has a karaoke machine that we hook it up to the enormous television in her front room, we sing along with all the songs and dance around, her Dad says that we’ve been put on this earth just to annoy him, but he loves it really.

Our favourite game is hide and seek and it can take ages for us to find each other, but here in the hills we really do have to rely on our parents for transport to allow us to get together at any time, apart from school that is, and each weekend we take it in turns to have sleepovers, but Lucy and my other friends have always preferred to stay at my house, they love to play with all of my animals and make such a fuss of Bits, she loves all of the attention.

I never knew my Father, Mum and Gran told me that he was with us for a short time, but then had to leave us, they told me that he was a very strong and powerful man, very intelligent and also very kind and loves us very much. In many ways even though I am very young, they tell me that I take after him, but Mum and Gran say they will explain everything when I am older, but I must admit that I do sometimes miss not having a Dad around to play games with me and take me out to special places just like Lucy's farther does with her. To be fair, they are very kind to me and have always treated me as their own daughter, so I suppose you can’t have everything in life no matter how much you want it.

My Mum is really pretty, very loving and very protective, and Gran is so warm hearted that you can’t help but love her, they are always so happy to be in each other’s company. Our family has lived in this cottage for quite a few generations, but I am not really certain how many. It’s been changed a little over the years obviously, we have running water, a telephone, mind you, it sometimes doesn’t always work in the winter when the snow brings down the lines. We don’t have a television as the reception up here is rubbish, but Gran says so are the programmes, so we are not missing anything really, but that’s never been a problem.

Believe it or not, our electricity is still supplied by a little generator in Gran’s barn. She keeps saying that one day she will have mains electricity put in, but she’s not into those new-fangled things. Certain objects and pictures have always been in our house, but there is one picture in particular that hangs in the hall that always scares me every time I walk by it. I’m certain that it’s always slightly different than the last time I looked at it, and so I always tend to run by it very quickly. Our front room is quite large with enormous oak beams, but it’s normally quite dark because it only has very small windows.

The floor of the cottage is all stone, Gran has placed some beautiful large deep rugs that are perfect for lying on. We have a large log fire, but no central heating, but the house is always warm and snug, and at night we all sit in front of the fire and have hot chocolate and cake, my Gran is always baking for us. Upstairs in the cottage we have three fairly large bedrooms, my own room looks out over the dales and the high peaks, and before it starts to rain here at the cottage, you can see it coming as a grey mist in the distance, but in the winter it’s a very different story, as I said, when it begins to snow it doesn’t always know when to stop, and so we are always be prepared with a good supply of logs in the barn and fuel for the generator.

Bits always sleeps on my bed with all my teddies, I realise that to a child who lives in a town or city, that it must sound more like an existence than a happy life, but I wouldn’t change anything, we are not rich, but we always seem to have money, well at least Gran does. We do have a car, it’s getting on a bit now, but Gran says she is to, but without the car we couldn’t get anywhere as there are no buses serving where we live.

The only time we would normally see anyone is on a Saturday morning when Gran, Mum and I, take our small market stall to Ashbourne market which is in the main square of the town. We sell home-made jams, cakes and herbal remedies for just about anything, and the same people return every week because they say that the cures that Gran makes actually work. I don’t know if she is supposed to sell them, but it doesn’t matter to Gran, she likes to help people, she wouldn’t take any notice anyway. I don’t really understand what is in all the little bottles, but the people who buy them swear they never have to go and see a doctor.

Because of where we actually live is very remote and isolated, the lack of contact we have with the local people means they don’t really know us, and as you can imagine we are treated with a little suspicion, but country folk are like that by nature. Gran says they are very nice people, but always a little narrow minded in many ways.

At the market the local men and women would come and tell Gran what was wrong with them, she would make a note of their problems and tell them to come back the following week for the remedy, she also used to have her own secret recipe for wrinkle cream. Gran would always ask the women who came to see her how old they wanted to look, and I don’t know why, but all of them said eighteen and everyone laughed. My friends from school always came to say hello so I rarely got bored, there was always someone to talk to, but the best part of going to the market was that when we had finished at lunchtime, we would pack our things away in the back of our old car and go across the road from the square to the Gingerbread Tea Rooms. I always had a hot chocolate and a vanilla slice, it was brilliant, and no matter how hard I tried I always managed to get the cream and the icing all over my face, but it was worth getting sticky, I loved it.

All the cures that Gran made, were mixed in the barn at the back of the cottage, I used to call it her secret laboratory of lotions and potions. It was always so much fun going out and helping her collect all the herbs and other ingredients that she needed for her recipes, most came from our garden, but others from the fields and hedgerows, she knew exactly where to find them. With her basket full she went into the barn and mixed all the things together ready for next week’s market, she’s been making them for so long that she knows all the recipes off by heart. Several times during every month gran would go out on business to Manchester, it’s about thirty miles away, and quite often she wouldn’t return until very late, I was always very concerned for her safety, I used to worry about her driving home in the dark. It’s an awful road over the moors, there are no lights and the road is very dark and unforgiving, but Mum always told me that nothing would ever happen to her, she will always be safe, but I would never go to sleep until she returned safely home.

I asked Mum what sort of business does Gran do in Manchester, and who does she meet?

Oh this and that, just some people she has known for many years. I know it was no real answer, but it didn’t seem to matter at the time, I was too young to understand anyway, I was just concerned for her welfare. Inside the old barn there was a very large steel door that was always padlocked and barred, and I was always told never to go near this door as it led to a large chamber that was very deep and very dangerous, that was enough for me so I never went anyway near it. Mum and Gran had always told me about this part of Derbyshire being riddled with old mine workings and caves, and to be fair the door did look very frightening with those big old rusty padlocks and bolts.

I went to the local school in Ashbourne, it’s not a very big, just a few classrooms, but even though it’s an old building the rooms are still bright and airy, it’s quite pleasant really. School was always a very difficult time for me as an individual, I don’t mean the learning side of things, I always had a real thirst for knowledge of any kind, plus the teachers were really good, most terms Lucy and I where always at the top of the class, but I found that no matter how hard I tried to mix with some of the other children, they always seemed to steer well clear of me as though they were a little scared or unsure of me, but that was most likely the result of gossip they had heard at home. As I said earlier, most of the families in the town and the area have been here for generations, and although Gran has been here for many years they still mostly avoided us, fortunately I had a close circle of a few friends.

I was always aware from a very early age that I was a little different to the other kids, let me explain what I mean by that, if I concentrated my mind, I found that I had a strange understanding of what was going to happen, as though I could see into the future. I could look at a bend in the road and tell you the colour of the next car to come along well before I actually saw it, and in class I always knew the next question before it was asked, I never said anything to anyone, but I must admit I didn’t really understand what it all meant. But then one evening when I was at home having tea, I thought that I ought to know a little more about what I considered to be my Special abilities. I asked Mum and Gran,

Why is it that I can make things happen? There was a deathly silence for quite some time, had I asked a question that I shouldn’t have done?

Whatever do you mean?  Replied Gran with a look of concern on her face.

I explained what I thought I could do, and moments they both looked at me and then back at each other very strangely, I could instantly tell they understood exactly what I was talking about, but they didn’t want to say anything to me, they really didn’t want to answer my question.

No, it’s just your imagination. They replied very feebly.

I don’t think it is. And I left it at that.

As I said previously, school was always a difficult time for me, and apart from Lucy and a couple of others, the only friend I had was a boy named David, he always looked after me when some of the other children picked on me, or ganged up to taunt me as they often did. He, Lucy and my close friends were the only ones I could trust right from my very first day at school. There was one girl in particular who seemed to make it her duty to turn everyone against me, this girl always wanted to be the centre of attention, you know the sort of person I mean, I’m certain that every school or neighbourhood has at least one such person, girl or boy.

Her name was Stella, but unlike her name she wasn’t very bright, and if things didn’t go as she planned, she could be very cruel to whoever got in her way. Stella was always at her happiest when she could upset someone. I always got it for being clever and working hard, but I never let her comments get to me, I always tried to stay clear of her as did Lucy. One particular day it was my Mums turn to pick us up from school, but this particular day she was a little late, and so we waited in the playground for her to arrive, but who should pass by, Stella, and as usual she made a verbal bee line for me. I ignored her taunting and eventually she and her friends got bored and moved on to look for another victim, but as she and her cronies walked through the school grounds they had to pass a gardener who was at the time doing the very simple task of watering the flowers in one of the borders.

I don’t know why I did it, but for the first time I found that my anger had finally got the better of me. I concentrated very hard, suddenly, and without any warning the gardener turned his hose onto Stella and her little clique, It was hilarious, everyone started to laugh, apart from Stella that is, It was as though the inanimate yellow hosepipe had suddenly found a life of its own, a new purpose. The gardener was trying his best to turn it off, but no matter how he tried, the hose just kept going and they were all soaked, fortunately for us It was at that moment that my Mum arrived, and Lucy and I got into the car crying with laughter, it was the perfect end to school that day.

We drove through all the country lanes before eventually dropping Lucy off at her home, and now for the first time it suddenly occurred to me what I had done, It was me who made the gardener spray them with the water from the hose, that’s what I had wished to for and that’s what happened, eventually, when we arrived back home I explained to Mum and Gran what I had actually done, but again they gave each other that same strange look they had given before. But then Gran looked at me and asked.

Were you very angry at the time of the hosepipe incident?

Yes I was, but what difference would that make?

We sat down at the table with a hot chocolate as Gran explained that I was not like other children or adults, and that if I got angry I could actually create events that I may not be able to control, and as such I must always try to keep my anger in check at all times. They promised that when I am older they would explain everything to me, but at this moment in time I should be very careful of getting angry. I promised that I would try my best, but having said that, nothing could ever detract from the sheer joy and pleasure of that one moment in time at school, the sheer bliss of seeing Stella and her friends getting soaked, and the fact that I wouldn’t be blamed for it, what a feeling of absolute joy and elation.

Mum wanted to report the treatment I was getting from some of the kids at the school, but I said this would only make things worse for me, and truthfully it really didn’t bother me too much, and life at school  went on much as before. Over time I did learn to control my anger, and this did appear to make school life a little more tolerable, but eventually the years had passed and I was now eleven years old, primary school was now finally behind me, and I had survived. Now it was time for my new senior school, which, although I was looking forward to it, I must admit that it filled me with a little dread, but for now the summer called out to me with the thought of long sunny days full of adventure with Lucy.

One morning during the summer break as we sat at the table having breakfast, Gran asked me if I was looking forward to my new school.

Yes and no I replied,

Gran and Mum had a brief discussion with each other and decided that it was not in my best interests for me to attend the same senior school as all the other children of the town, they realised the same problems would only be there waiting for me on my return. I must admit I was quite pleased by the thought that I could leave those stupid girls behind and just get on with my life without any of the hassle.

During the following week, Lucy and her parents came to visit us one evening, they said that, due to the fact we had both found the work to be so easy, that it would be far better for us to attend a private school and rid ourselves of all the problems that we were facing here in the town from those who really didn’t want to learn. After a discussion over a cup of tea, Lucy’s Father made a few telephone calls to someone he knew, and later that same week Lucy and I were taken to a school in Derby to sit an entrance exam, this created no problems for either of us.

A week later the results arrived by post and we were both offered places at the school. I asked Gran and Mum about the cost, and could we afford the fees at the school.

Look Martha, don’t ever worry about money, that certainly won’t be a problem.

The following Saturday Lucy telephoned me, she was so excited that I could hardly understand a word she was saying. Our Mum’s were taking us to get our new school uniforms and everything else that we would need. Lucy’s Mum told us a great deal more about the school, and that it had been in existence for several hundred years, and that some of the former pupils were now very famous people in their own fields, such as Politics, the Arts and Science, and that we were very lucky to have gotten a place, as you can imagine this made Lucy and I even more nervous.

The school was called St Dunstan’s, and it had boarders as well as day students, but it was a girl’s only school. The thought that we would never have the problem of Stella and her like again, also we would be with girls who really wanted to learn and be somebody really excited us. My mum got dressed up for the shopping trip to Derby, and she looked so pretty. She didn’t have many chances to Posh Up, she loved it. We had such a wonderful day touring all the different shops for clothing and sports equipment, we also needed to have a sports bra even though I had nothing to put in it, and also green knickers, how grown up is that? By the end of the day after we had everything on the school list, and there was lots of it, we had so many different bags and boxes, and then to finish off the day properly, Lucy’s Mum took us all for tea at a posh hotel, it was great time for us all, and Mum was beaming, she was so happy.

During the summer holiday I would stay in my room reading all about my new school, looking at my uniform, the books and the sports kit that we’d bought. However, one day as I sat in my bedroom by the window with the warmth of the sun on the back of my head, I found myself lost in my own thoughts, concentrating, thinking about using some of the sports kit and the games we would play. Suddenly, I thought I noticed a slight movement taking place in the corner of the room, and as I continued to look I realised that the gym shoes had started to move slightly and lift off the floor, I found that if I tried really hard I could control their movement, but only just a little. I could make them go up and down and round the room, I was astounded, it took my breath away, Wow! I wondered what else I could do, I tried with some of the other objects, again with the same results, but with varying degrees of control.

I was a little unsure what to do or to say, and so I thought it was best not to mention it to Mum and Gran, but when Lucy came over to see me a little later that day I told her. She was very excited and wanted me to show her what I could do, it took